President Trump signed an executive order today (January 31, 2019) – titled “Strengthening Buy American Preferences for Infrastructure Projects” – intended to further bolster one of the key pillars of his economic program – that is, keeping jobs in the United States, by expanding the scope of the program to recipients of federal funds. The White House pointed out as part of its roll-out: “Each year, more than 30 federal agencies award over $700 billion in federal financial assistance to more than 40,000 non-federal recipient organizations. This assistance comes in the form of loans, loan guarantees, grants, cooperative agreements, insurance and interest subsidies. . . this federal financial assistance reveals that billions of taxpayer dollars fall through possible gaps in Buy American coverage.” It was further noted that in “the 2016 fiscal year, of the 265 listings in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance for infrastructure or construction projects, more than 200 did not require Buy American considerations. . . [adding] up to over $45 billion of expenditures.” 

The new Buy American/Hire American E.O. the president signed is targeted at reaching some of these projects and associated spending.  For details see: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-buy-american-hire-american/